Digging ourselves from out of the Grave: (Part 2)

In this follow-up piece of my second part on how as The Arsenal we can dig ourselves out of the grave, I have come up with an approach or call it a strategy that I personally feel would help deliver unto us at least if not all, The League title, and yes I admit it is not gospel truth so I’m open to constructive criticism.

Clean Slate: Time To Mend The Wrongs

How to get back to trophy(s) winning ways:

1)      Build and strengthen existent core: 

Much has been said about Robin Van Persie’s contract talks, and God knows I could have done my best to steer away from them in this piece had I even had the slightest of chances. But sadly there’s no way I can. It’s well documented that for the past over 7 years now, we’ve sold a key Arsenal player almost every season, right from Patrick Viera to the recent departures of Samir and Cesc Fabregas. Good business in commercial terms but honestly not so prudent a move from a footballing perspective, almost every player that has been sold during these years has been part and parcel of the core that formed the Arsenal squad. Continued rebuilding from scratch every season could probably be an undeniable factor to explain the club’s trophy draught, for that matter this writer insists and maintains that for whatever price, we should NOT let go of Robin Van Persie, Alex Song and Theo Walcott; they might not be the best out there in their positions and most probably not many people’s favorites, but the work that has been put in to help them develop from raw talent to near accomplished products should at least not be put to waste. We have to maintain a certain bonding in the squad both on and off the pitch and what better way than keeping around the “old” guard?

2)      Set a Target:

At the beginning of the 2011/12 season manu’s Alex Ferguson came out publically to state his side’s points target, he declared that 80+ points was their aim, and in his opinion its all they needed to ferry the League Title to the red side of Manchester. All credit to them, they reached that target and matter of fact surpassed it, I don’t think the same standards would hurt if and when set for the Arsenal Squad, for seasons on-end we’ve barely managed to make it past the 70 points mark, a target that could only have realistically won us the title had we still been playing the game in the mid 90’s but this is a different stage, a much more evolved league with much more at stake than before. I honestly feel that as a team we need to move with the changing times if at all we are to convince anyone about the seriousness of our ambitions. Set a target, make everyone believe and show them how we can achieve it.

3)      Solid Run:

Best Signings: Cant get any better!

Unbeaten runs have always proven tricky for Arsenal in that when ended, the team always struggles to regain its footing on the soccer pitch and more than often many draws and losses have been accumulated right after the ending of our unbeaten runs. However, I would like to look at the positive vibes created by an unbeaten run, it shields the side with a roaring reputation that most times goes into the games before even the players set foot on the pitch, case in point here is games like Liverpool away where even when we didn’t give our best, we still managed to come out with the much needed 3points. I am of the view that if we breakdown the league into 3parts (and not two) where the first 3^rd is the first 15games, second as the next 13games and with the final 3^rd as the last 10games. For now allow me to concentrate on the first and second 3rds, whence we will get back to the final 3^rd towards the end of the article. Our set target for the first 15games should be achieving 40points out of the available 45; see at the  beginning of the season (at least for most of them save for the just concluded one) we’ve always burst of the blocks with too much steam, beaten teams with such ease and by huge margins, I will attribute this to freshness of the lads and lack of disruption by injuries, so no matter who the opponent should be, we should fight to the best of our ability and at least not lose a single match in our first 15 league games of the 2012/13 season, this is attainable with enough man power and a rotational squad, something that I intend to talk about too in the latter part of the article. With 40points from the first 3^rd, we can now afford to slack a bit, but only A BIT! In the next 13games, bearing in mind the intensity of the league at this point, picked up knocks by players and the increased schedules from other competitions so a minimum of 15 points from a possible 33 shouldn’t be such a bad thing, this will give us a total of 55points from 28 games, I know, I know, not so good, but this should be the minimum and at least we should all agree that it’s not the worst, matter of fact, not so bad. 

4)      Rotational Squad:

Arsenal’s biggest problem amongst a throng in the past seasons has always been a lack of team depth, we have constantly had such a wonderful first team one that could convincingly beat the likes of Barcelona, manu, Chelsea, citeh, name them all but the deficiency of depth meant that seemingly easier jobs like Wigan Athletics, Fullham, Sunderland et al could not be given the necessary urgency, and hence proving to be the biggest regrets come end of season when we look back and hold our heads in dejection. All this can be sorted out by putting a stop to experimenting with struggling players and giving them time to develop and regain their confidence in lesser competitions say like the Carling Cup or if this fails, loan deals to clubs where they will have less pressurizing atmospheres to deal with. Because with 7 trophy-less seasons, the pressure at Arsenal is understandably just gonna intensify as both positive and less optimistic fans will constantly look out for reasons to explain out their beliefs. Talking about experimenting with struggling players, I personally feel we sacrificed in the excess of 20points during the just concluded season all for the development of one player who to be honest didn’t really improve much at the end of it all. We should not have another season of the same, but rather bolster the squad with some proven quality or players sold out to the cause and will constantly give 100%+ whenever they don the Red & white canons.

5)      Consistent Commitment and Passion:

From my observation, there is not such a huge gap between the Arsenal squad and the teams that have lifted all of the four trophies that the Gunners were competing for in the 2011/12 season. Matter of fact all but NONE were at one point in the same season convincingly beaten by The Arsenal but only difference has been focus and mental strength, producing one brilliant game as a squad only to immaturely slack off in the next one and cheaply give away leads in winnable games. Getting into our “must win something” season, we have to give at least 99% in 99% of all the games we take part in, and not only the players, but also the fans, coaching staff and management, everyone should try and give their best to the best of their ability in doing their jobs. This Arsenal team as a whole is honestly too good to keep just coming close, show some PASSION!

6)      Iron out the mistakes:

Saddens me to still have to write about this, but It seems to have become norm now in the Arsenal squad that players that have continually lacked that final meticulousness about their game perpetuate the same old gaffes into new seasons and the trend is shockingly repetitive. You’re always left wondering if it’s the coaching staffs who fail to do their job in trying to iron these out or could it be a deliberate stubbornness by players where they buy into their own hype and feel they’ve reached the point where their game is more or less perfect?

7)      All season focus:

I have asked this question before and allow me to ask it one more time, who exactly should we blame for The Arsenal players’ lack of concentration and focus in the waning days and matches of the season? This brings me back to my final 3^rd segment of the season which was the last 10 games of the league; I don’t think it’s asking for too much to set a target of 10wins out of 10matches in the season run-in adding up all the points attained from the 38games of a 3segment season would give us 85points. Surely even if we don’t win it with 85points, not many will be left complaining, I for one will be deservedly satisfied. Not only will it prove a team with a heart of a champion but as well set us up for the next season because this honestly doesn’t have to just be a one season miracle but rather a working strategy that should be adopted by the team for seasons to come.

8)      Adaptive team formations: please study opponents! Know their strengths and weaknesses, identify their key players, don’t play to their advantage or else you will end up being so predictable just like “The Art of war” states: take precautions against the enemy who has good preparation and substantial strength. And there sure is NO WAY you can know this unless you study your opponents, we should avoiding outing the same known squad formation match after match, but rather try to play to the weaknesses of the opponents by identifying our own weaknesses. This should be most employed during periods when our key players are missing from games due to injuries and fatigue, case in point here should be the way Arteta’s absence was so visible for all to see and yet we still went on to play the same 4-2-3-1 formation without a dependable stand in for Mikel, this never works out to our good and hopefully we can sort it out come 2012/13 season. 

Conclusion: For the past 7 seasons we have been observing, trying and learning, always doing our best but coming short. I don’t think there is anyone with believable footballing reasons still willing to wait any longer, and if nobody wants to hear what I have to say, at least take Jamie Sanderson’s (@YoungGunsBlog) words at heart: “Only so many times can [you] sell top players and your captain before the wheels finally come off all together”

Hoping: Hopefully when the season is finally over, and all the cameras are gone, visitors to this magnificent stadium will have an everlasting Smile.

 

 COME ON YOU GUNNERS!! 

once again I would like to thank the following for being there for me:
Nil (@Nilstar1) for inspiring me

Dave (@goonerdave66) for believing with me

Judy & Sharon (@judy_vancrescit , @shaza_420) for believing in me

and Anna (@MadRuskiGunner) for bearing with my nagging :)

thanks all

Rodger >> @rodgerk1

Digging ourselves from out of the Grave: Determining How far The Arsenal can go in 2013 (Part 1)

In a two part series, I have done my best to go through our past 7 failed attempts at winning something as a team, in form of a trophy for The Arsenal, even after doing all we could and coming so close on many occasions.

Season(s) Review;

The last seven years for Arsenal have been anything but far from outstanding in football terms. A lot has been said by many about the club and sadly not much in complimentary proclamations; from departing players labeling the club as an unambitious bunch to opponents and pundits reducing us to a club that only flatters to deceive season after season (for the past 7). We’ve continually seen the team trying so hard but yet having so little to show at the end of it all, climbing atop the league table only to be bullied off because the heat had gotten too much for the young squad to stay in the kitchen.

Fewer and fewer staying interested in looking at the balance sheets that have continually (through the 7 seasons) been touted by the club management as the greatest achievements attainable, and as the trophy-less seasons have piled on; Some fans have taken to baying for blood (a list which seems to be steadfastly growing every season that passes). This lot claim that their patience has been stretched to limits too far, so much that they have resorted to booing their "heroes and models" off the playing surface on home turf and threatening to carryout bin bag protests against the manager and the team as a whole.

Balance Sheet: A big polarizing factor amongst gooners

However, it has not been all gloom and doom for all;  there is still a remnant that have held on to faith, a considerable lot that have managed to put things into perspective and decided to approach the situation with heads and not just the hearts. They know importantly how much it takes to keep in topflight football especially after financing one of the biggest projects in modern football of building and moving to a new home stadium with no sugar daddy’s wallet to suckle on. When you don’t have a billionaire financier to treat the club simply as one of his toys that he gets involved with for pleasure. 

Nevertheless, in both cases (for both sets of fans), extremism is their undoing, ignoring the current achievements and trashing glory days of the past to prove your point is just myopic. And on the other hand being completely blind to the current situation and trying to find all sorts of excuses to explain our struggles is simply being hypocritical and out of touch. Considerable and respectful criticism coupled with questions asked in civility have to be raised by all concerned hearts and at least there should be believable answers to explain things out.

With all that said though, surely there should be, and I believe there is a way back to the VERY TOP for The Arsenal! Strange seasons for many clubs come and go, but not many stranger than or even similar to Arsenal’s 2011/12 campaign; A mixture of complete downheartedness and despair adhesively intertwined with absolute joy and bliss could best describe the different stages of the season for The Gunners.

With plenty of learning experiences to be picked from the just concluded season, chief amongst these should be the fact that its more to do with the way you close the season than even the opening. In the first few games of the season, Bolton was actually amongst the top 5 teams on the league table especially after crashing Stoke City by 5 goals to Nil; And up to until the end of December 2011, Wigan Athletic was all but destined for relegation based on their poor run of form. On the other hand, Arsenal were languishing in position 17 on the league table after 7games into the season. But just like the popular adage goes “It is a marathon and never a sprint” and that my friend is the beauty of a league. A league is NEVER won in August, September, October…. and NOT even in February! We have also learned a very BIG lesson that money can, but only get you too far! You can never buy a team of 22 players in one season, and even if you managed to, you cannot maintain their form all season long. Manu and Liverpool FC can testify to this. 

The season ending saw favorite winners and table toppers relinquish an 8point gap lead between them and the team in second position to the eventual winners, and as well saw Wigan defy all odds to triumph over all teams in the top 4 to beat the drop zone. In the same manner we saw a small team choke in the final games of their season to squander 3^rd place on the table surrendering it to their fiercest and mightier rivals just across the road. It is always a Marathon.

End of Part 1

In the next part I’m going to look at some pointers we can put into consideration when vying for our first trophy in 8years, come next season. A big thank you to Nil (@Nilstar1 ) who suggested this topic to me over 3months back hence giving me an idea of what to write about in this article. Hope I’ve made you proud Nil.

Until the next piece, I remain yours

@rodgerk1